


Absent Friends

by Akallabeth



Series: Les Misérables Fix Fic Game [3]
Category: Les Misérables (TV 2018), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Canon Era, Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-13 21:36:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17495822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akallabeth/pseuds/Akallabeth
Summary: Les Amis de ABC seem to be down a few members.  Their mistresses are certainly not trying to keep them out of trouble, or anything...





	Absent Friends

"It's not that I can actually _keep_ Bahorel out of trouble", Gabrielle explained. "Only he can do that, and he won't. I just try to ensure that he happens to have previous engagements on particularly troublesome days."

Musichetta scowled--very expressively, in Gabrielle's opinion. Though she rarely partook of scowls herself, she appreciated how much emotion her friend could convey though one.

"We don't all have you abilities", she finally said. Gabrielle considered this.

"Surely your doctor appreciates the benefits of fresh country air?" 

"Almost as much as Bahorel appreciates the salubrious effects of not being in the law school," Musichetta replied. “But that is not what I meant. I lack your ability to accurately predict when 'trouble' is imminent.”

“I am rather intimately acquainted with trouble in its various forms”, Gabrielle laughed. “We'll go together next time. I'll bring my fellow, you bring yours, and we'll make a merry party.” 

 

**

“We all have our mistresses, more or less. Some, admittedly, are a bit more substantial than others--”

“Good luck speaking at your own funeral, Bossuet”, Bahorel interjected.

“--more tangible than others--”, he restated.

“Put in such terms, I am astounded that you have one,” Feuilly added. 

"--Prouvaire has his Erato, Pontmercy his Ursula, Combeferre his Urania--" 

Combeferre corrected him, "I'm not particularly adept at astronomy, except as applied to navigation."

"Two muses and an initialled handkerchief hardly make a compelling argument", Feuilly pointed out. 

"Assuming this Pontmercy of Courfeyrac's is even real. Has anyone seen him about the law school?", Joly asked.

"Has anyone here voluntarily entered the law school?" Bahorel shuddered. "It is a dismal place." 

Into this thread of tangled conversation, Jehan Prouvaire announced, "I'm still looking for Beatrice, if anyone knows a divine creature emblematic of God's love for humankind."

The room fell silent for a moment, until Joly attempted to assist his friend. "I can't say that's something I normally notice first about women. Did you have a particular hair color in mind?"

Jehan sighed dramatically and cast himself into a chair on the far side of the room. (This was approximately five steps away, and so did not have the finality he may have intended.) As much as he loved his friends, they could be sadly prosaic at times.

"Or common interests", Joly continued. "Musichetta's friend Eugenie has been studying English to read Keats in the original."

Jehan picked himself back up at this, in order to make animated inquiries about this poetically-inclined grisette's opinion on Shelley.

"What brought up that....particular line of thought?", Combeferre asked Bossuet. He didn't _say_ it outright, but had (on more than one occasion) made similar inquiries while trying to discern if Bossuet had acquired another head injury and/or had imbibed to excess.

"Musichetta wants to go to Dieppe", he explained. As half-expected, Combeferre seemed to be attempting (subtly) to examine Bossuet's pupils. "She thinks Jolllly's working too hard and that some sea-bathing will be good for everyone's health." 

"Gabrielle said something similar", Bahorel frowned in recollection. "And she didn't use her teasing laugh _or_ her ironic laugh, so I think she was serious." 

"The Holy Alliance stands?" Bossuet asked.

"Negotiations have successfully secured all parties' satisfaction."

Feuilly coughed in a way that mysteriously resembled the word "trousers". 

"So, Bahorel has his laughing angel, Courfeyrac his Mireille, Feuilly Poland, Enjolras his beloved Patria, and Grantaire Enjolras--"

"Did Irma throw him over again?", Bahorel asked. "I thought they were speaking this week."

"In a manner of speaking, yes, but not in that one."

"Can we revisit the bit with Enjolras being Grantaire's 'mistress'?", asked Feuilly. While Combeferre seemed to refuse intimate company of the female persuasion on ethical grounds (that living in an unjust society creates power imbalances between men and women, etc.), Feuilly followed Enjolras: he simply found the international struggle to free mankind more interesting than kissing. Or whatever one did with women besides work alongside them, respectfully exchange opinions with them, and discuss the partition of Poland.

"Right, you had to miss a few meetings", Bossuet sighed. "Grantaire got somewhat more talkative than usual ("More talkative?") the other week and started declaiming about how much he believed in Enjolras. And offered to polish his boots." Bossuet frowned. "The concerning part is that _Enjolras_ started drinking that night. It's been... awkward."

"Ah."

"So, what's your diagnosis, doctor?", Bahorel nodded towards Bossuet whose pulse Combeferre was now checking. "Will an excursion to the seaside and a respite from the miasmas of law set our eagle to rights?"

**  


When they met at the coach two mornings later, the expected party of five proved to be a party of eight. 

"Courfeyrac couldn't come", Prouvaire offered, by way of explanation. "He said Marius needed him, and that he'd watch over Enjolras and Grantaire while we're gone. They're a bit too...focused... at present to join us."

The question on everyone's mind, of course, was why more of their unexpected friends were not present, rather than (say) why the poet was carrying a pot of violets, and seemed to have a skull peeping of out of his carpet bag. Or was there in the first place.

Feuilly had quietly joined Musichetta, while Joly and Bossuet took care of the luggage. "Are you alright? This whole excursion seems somewhat unusual."

"Just a megrim", she replied. "I thought a few days outside of Paris would be good for us all. I'm more concerned that you're missing work. And that Combeferre looks almost angry."

"The trade's slow just now", Feuilly offered by way of non-explanation. "And Combeferre had some sort of falling out with Enjolras, and possibly Grantaire. Prouvaire thought that he--Combeferre that is--needed a break as well, but wouldn't come without the rest of us. So now Courfeyrac's looking after everyone who can't take care of themselves, and three bachelors are intruding on your holiday."

Musichetta shrugged off the latter, but nodded at the former. She hadn't seen Grantaire in over a week: he would usually have dropped by Joly's rooms three or four times in that period.

"I feel bad leaving them behind if the situation's so fraught," Musichetta confessed. "But, at the same time, I wonder if a few days apart might be the best way to resolve whatever's wrong." They flinched as a trunk landed on Bossuet's boot, but--with both medical students rushing over to investigate--there was nothing for them to do about it. "Is it too optimistic that hope that Combeferre and Enjolras will work out their troubles on their own?"

"Probably," Feuilly agreed. "But we're optimistic about all sorts of things."

The ride passed without incident--Bossuet had been unanimously nominated to ride inside with the ladies, where he was less likely to meet mischance--and they arrived at the coast in time for a late dinner at their seaside hotel. The days passed in long walks along the shore (during which it was discovered that Combeferre could identify an astonishing number of sea creatures) and long walks through the countryside (where Prouvaire could identify an astonishing number of flowers and Combeferre an alarming number of insects); the nights at the inn passed in games of billiards (Gabrielle and Bahorel far outscoring the rest of their opponents), and raucous song. Though political theory might never be far from their lovers' minds, the unfamiliar house and company prevented them from talking about anything so dangerous.

**

Nothing, in short, could disturb their temporary happiness. Except for a series of notes that arrived from Courfeyrac.

_"My Friends,  
There's little new to report from Paris, though I regret to observe that Enjolras is still drinking more than usual, and had been speaking somewhat harshly as well. Pontmercy just took up new quarters in the slums near the Salpêtrière, in the old Marche-aux-Chevaux quarter._

_Courfeyrac (toujours sans "de"!)_

  


_"My Friends,  
I worry about Grantaire. His good humor is not what it usually is, and he's started making crude remarks with few or no classical allusions. Enjolras cut off all his hair, and has started wearing a peculiar sort of mustache. Pontmercy is in love. I have apparently lost my mind and taken the aforementioned men (sans Enjolras or whatever evil twin has assumed his lodgings) to a brothel. If Combeferre can be dissuaded from killing me with his mind, I will explain. Or perhaps, I'll just help him._

_Courf_

 

  


_Bossuet,  
If you exist (and I am starting to doubt my sanity in that matter), please help me. We had other friends, did we not? Nothing is making sense anymore. Enjolras seems ready to fight the entire government single-handedly, Grantaire has been passed out for two days, and Marius just interrupted my panic to relate a disturbing dream he had--as though reality is not troubling enough on its own. I'm trying my best, but cannot hold things together much longer. It's as though time itself is running fast then slow._

_C_

**Author's Note:**

> Bahorel's mistress isn't named in the brick; here she is "Gabrielle", for laughingmistress. A tumblr conversation resulted in the headcanon that so many versions of Les Mis lack Bahorel because Gabrielle is constantly spiriting him away from bad adaptations.
> 
> Feuilly and Musichetta being friends/former neighbors is adopted from AMarguerite's "Some Innocent Merriment" series. Erato is the muse of lyric poetry, Urania is the muse of astronomy, and Mireille is Courfeyrac's girlfriend in Shoujo Cosette. Combeferre's possible psychic abilities was inspired by the rules of the LM kinkmeme. The timeline regarding Marius is a bit wonky, because he never meets most of the amis in the new series (apparently because they are off at the seaside). I kept the handkerchief/Ursula bit in for my own amusement, though the timeline there has also been changed.


End file.
